Denny Dimin Gallery is pleased to announce here nor there, a solo exhibition of new work by Amanda Valdez which will be her first with Denny Dimin Gallery in its Hong Kong location. The exhibition will be on view at our space in Wong Chuk Hang from November 12 to December 23, 2022 following major international exhibitions and her recent acquisitions by the Heckscher Museum of Art and the United States Art in Embassies program.

Amanda Valdez is known for her bold abstract paintings which incorporate quilting, sewing, dyeing, weaving and painting. Her process begins with small scale drawings, which she refers to as “somatic release” in the sense of them being akin to an intuitive physical response to an emotion, experience or idea. “It evokes the moment of pencil on paper, of hands moving and responding to both materials…[and] the release of this primal information.” She visually quantifies this primal information pertaining to the body with its functions and dysfunctions and cycles of physical and mental change, and more recently motherhood, via unique shapes which are dislodged through this process. From these drawings, she sets about constructing the paintings. Her practice involves both hand dyed and commercially sourced fabrics or handwoven textiles which Valdez looks to incorporate as shaped panels, sewing them into the canvas before stretching this singular piece over the frame. Each work demands a different approach with the final painting realized through a combination of oil stick, gouache, acrylic, embroidery and weaving.

Valdez’s most recent work speaks to the duality of her practice where the narrative of the work is both literally shaped by the gendered histories behind materiality and abstraction alongside a more subjective experience which moves like a conversation and sharing between artist and viewer. With regard to the former, Valdez’s works acknowledge the geometric patterning often referenced in the Minimalist and Conceptual art movements breaking forth during the 1960s and 70s, along side the long precedent of the use of the  grid in quilt making and weaving. The uniformity and control of grids found in this work are acknowledged by Valdez in the inclusion of weaving in her latest body of work. Grids formed by the warp and weft (the horizontal and vertical movements of the loom) dictate both line and methodology of practice in this artform which then moves further to influence shapes and patterns in the wider form of the work. We then see the second narrative of subjectivity, personal experience and visceral outreach to the viewer come into play with the highly tactile use of painterly materials such as the seemingly viscid acrylic drip forms, smooth velvety gouache and textured layered oil stick. We see nods to Abstract Expressionism in the apparent fluid freeform application yet there is a considered and controlled methodology which speaks to Valdez’s experience and technical prowess.  Valdez’s work also references the cultural resilience and significance of women’s craft traditions. These traditions, which Valdez has championed and explored throughout her career are seeing a resurgence in contemporary art.

The more personal attributes associated with the work and which speak to shared human experiences, find form in the anamorphic shapes and their positioning, often referencing the corporeal experience. There is also the fundamental and intentional inclusion of the mistake or the mismatch, which both conceptually speak to these human experiences but also seek to  formally reposition the work, requiring  the viewer to pause, and reconsider the artwork. This confluence of shapes, textures, materiality and color mirrors the amalgamation of identity, shared experiences and histories. These are simultaneously all laid out on the canvas whilst also holding enough mystique to allow the viewer to form their own relationship with the work. The artwork, while born from a personal release of the artist, finds new life through its own subjectivity encountering the viewer. It is neither “here nor there.”

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丹尼迪明畫廊欣然呈獻Amanda Valdez 的新作個展「非此處非彼處」(here nor there)，而這將是她在香港丹尼迪明畫廊的首次個展。展覽將於 2022 年 11 月 12 日至 12 月 23 日，在我們位於黃竹坑的空間展出。此前，她剛參與了數個重要的國際展覽，而她的作品最近也被赫克舍藝術博物館和美國大使館藝術計劃收藏。

Amanda Valdez 以其大膽的抽像畫而聞名，其中融合了絎縫、縫紉、染色、編織和繪畫的元素。她的創作過程從小型繪畫開始，她將其稱為“軀體性的釋放”，因為它們是類似於對情緒、體驗或想法的直覺性物理反應。 「它喚起了鉛筆在紙上，雙手移動並對兩種材料做出反應的那一刻……[以及]這種原始信息的釋放。」她視覺上量化了與身體有關的原始信息，例如其功能和功能障礙，身心變化的周期，以及最近為人母親的經歷，並把在這些過程中抽取出的獨特形狀呈現在她的作品裏。從這些素描中，她著手構建她的畫作。她的創作糅合了手工染色和商業採購的織物，或手工編織的紡織品，Valdez 希望將其合併成不同形狀的面板，她先將它們縫到畫布上，然後才將其拉伸到框架上。每件作品都需要使用不同的處理方法，而最終的畫作通過油棒、水粉、丙烯酸、刺繡和編織的組合得以完成。

Valdez最新的作品體現了她在創作上重視的雙重性，作品的敘述既是由物質性和抽象背後的性別歷史塑造的，也是一種更主觀的體驗，就像藝術家和觀眾之間的對話和分享。就前者而言，Valdez 的作品呼應了在 1960 和 70 年代爆發的極簡主義和概念藝術運動中經常引用的幾何圖案，以及已有深遠歷史使用在絎縫製作和編織中的網格圖案。 Valdez 留意到其作品中網格的均勻性和控制性，並在最新作品中加入了編織的元素以將其呈現。由經紗和緯紗（織布機水平和垂直的移動方式）形成的網格決定了這種藝術形式的線條和實踐方法，並進一步以更廣泛的作品形式影響形狀和圖案。接著，透過她對繪畫材料的親觸使用，例如是看似粘稠的呈滴水狀態的丙烯顏料、光滑如天鵝絨般的水粉彩，以及紋理分層的油棒，我們看到了主觀性的第二種敘述、她的個人經驗和對觀眾發自內心的展示。我們不只在其易變的自由形式的應用中看到了她對抽象表現主義的致敬，還看到了一種經過深思熟慮和可控的研究方法，而這對Valdez 的個人經驗和卓越技藝有著特殊意義。Valdez 的作品還參考了傳統女性手工藝的文化韌性和重要性。在她的整個職業生涯中一直倡導和探索的傳統文化，目前正在當代藝術中復蘇起來。

更多與作品以及人類共享經驗相關的個人特質，在變形的形狀及其位置變化中，參考著肉體經驗，找到了形式。這也包含了基本和有意產生的錯誤或不匹配，除了在概念上說明了這些人類經驗外，也試圖重新定位作品，這要求觀眾停下來重新審視藝術品。這種形狀、紋理、材質和顏色的融合反映了身份、共享經驗和歷史的併合。這些元素同時被佈置在畫布上，同時也保持著足夠的神秘感，讓觀眾能夠與作品建立和自己的關係。這件藝術品雖然是因藝術家的內在釋放而誔生，但也通過與觀眾相遇及其自身主體性中找到了新的生命。它既非「此處」亦「非彼處」。